The Official Blog of the Gwinnett Braves, Triple-A Affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.

Results tagged ‘ Anthony Varvaro ’

The Gwinnett Braves (35-31)) begin a stretch of nine games in their next eight days, starting on Thursday night with a doubleheader against the Columbus Clippers (30-35) from Coolray Field. The G-Braves will play five games against the Clippers to conclude their season-series, as Columbus currently has the upper hand with a 2-1 season lead. Then the IL West leading Indianapolis Indians (38-27) will visit Lawrenceville for their first of two, four-game series’ against Gwinnett this season.

Gwinnett has lost 10 of their last 13 contests, including recording a 3-7 mark on their present 10-game road trip. Not only have the G-Braves been losing lately, but they have lost ground on their once-familiar first place lead in the IL South. With the G-Braves recent skid and Charlotte’s tremendous hot-streak, Gwinnett now finds themselves 3.5 games out of first place in the standings after once leading the division by 7.0 games, nearly a month ago.

Returning to Gwinnett after a cup of coffee in Atlanta are three main G-Brave contributors; Jose Constanza, J.C. Boscan and Julio Teheran. All three will return to action at Coolray Field when the G-Braves get back from their off day on Wednesday.

In their last 10 games, only two G-Braves are batting over .300, the obvious catalyst of the team Ernesto Mejia and one of the newer additions Lance Zawadzki. The seocond baaseman and hero of the “Memorial Day Miracle” is batting .321 with nine hits, five runs scored, five RBI and two home runs. Mejia continues his torrid pace as he is batting .324 with 11 hits, six runs scored, six RBI and four home runs in his last 10 games. The G-Braves slugger is also currently in fifth place for first basemen for the 2012 All-Star Game voting.

The road trip didn’t have many hightlights for Gwinnett pitching, however Anthony Varvaro and Jaye Chapman continue to emerge as reliable arms out of the bullpen. Varvaro has incredibly registered nine strikeouts in his last 3.2 innings of work, while Chapman has struck out seven through his previous 6.0 innings of one-run work. Both should be highly considered for 2012 All-Star bids. If you’re going to vote, don’t forget about starters Julio Teheran, Todd Redmond and Yohan Flande.

Photo courtesy of Chris Roughgarden

Gwinnett right-hander Todd Redmond (5-4, 3.52) will oppose the Clippers right-hander Corey Kluber (4-6, 4.14) in the first game of the doubleheader, first pitch scheduled for 5:05 p.m. at Coolray Field on Thursday. The second game of the double-dip will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Listen to the broadcast on WDUN AM 550 in Gainesville, Georgia with Tony Schiavone calling the play-by-play.

Join us for our second annual eating contest for Dudes vs. Foods Night on Thursday. Only the bravest fans will dare to tackle the Super Knucksie! Participants will be chosen at the game. Thursday is also “$3 Thursday” so start the weekend right with $3 food and drink specials all game long presented by Dave FM. New for 2012, all general admission berm seating is also $3 on Thursdays!

Tickets for all Gwinnett Braves home games are on sale now at the Coolray Field Box Office. Call (678) 277-0340 or visit gwinnettbraves.com for more information.

Luis Durango is also on a tear of his own this season, after driving in four runs in his last two games including a walk-off winner in Game 1 of the G-Braves doubleheader. The speedster stole three bases in Wednesday’s game pushing his season total to 18 stolen bases in 20 attempts for the IL lead.

Toledo Mudhens (20-14, 1st IL West) vs Gwinnett (21-13, 1st IL South)

Anthony Varvaro (0-0, 4.00) will be opposing Toledo right-hander Brooks Brown (1-0, 6.16) in the second game of a double-dip that will see the Toledo as the home team.

Friday, May 11:

Game 1 – First Pitch 5:05 a.m. @ Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, GA

Game 2 – Approximately 30 minutes after first game concludes @ Coolray Field

Be sure to catch to the voice of the G-Braves Tony Schiavone as he broadcasts the game live on 550 AM, WDUN.com or 102.9 FM if you can’t make it out to the ballpark. Tickets for all Gwinnett Braves home games are on sale now at the Coolray Field Box Office. Call (678) 277-0340 or visit gwinnettbraves.com for more information.

The Gwinnett Braves started off the eight-game trip with a 3-2 win over the Toledo Mud Hens at Fifth Third Field last night. Left-hander Yohan Flande finally proved human as he allowed two runs in the fifth inning to snap his 19.2-inning scoreless streak, but a 3-for-4, two-RBI performance from Jose Constanza led the G-Braves to the win anyways. Constanza’s RBI single in the seventh scored Greg Paiml for the winning tally. Right-hander Adam Russell (W, 3-0) minimized the damage for Flande in the fifth and earned the win as a result, while right-hander Anthony Varvaro (H, 2) and left-hander Dusty Hughes (S, 3) combined on 3.0 scoreless innings.

With pitching continuing to be the main story of the G-Braves, we’ll get a look at right-hander Todd Redmond tonight in game two of the series. Redmond has lost each of his last two outings but hasn’t had a lot of offensive support to work with. He’s 10th amongst all International league pitchers with a 2.61 ERA and ranks third in strikeouts with 27. The ‘Hens are countering with left-hander Shawn Teufel (1-0, 3.18) today and pushing back lefty Andy Oliver to tomorrow.

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